Damsel In Distress
by Dreamless-Mermaid
Summary: Pardon me my good uh...Sir. I'll have to ask you to release that young..." "Keep movin', junior." "...Lady. But aren't you a damsel in distress?" "I'm a damsel, I'm in distress, I can handle this. Have a nice day." Blink/OC one shot.


_Damsel in Distress_

**By: Dreamless-Mermaid**

**AN – This is a short little birthday fic for my friend Penni. Happy birthday, girl!**

Newsies – Happy birthday! (blows party horns, throws confetti and all start randomly dancing)

Dave – One more thing before we get this party started. Dani does not own Newsies or the other Disney

movie _Hercules_ as there will be a few quotes from it in here

Spot – And she don't own us-

Blink – But she DOES own Cayden.

Me – (reclines in her chair, sipping on a soda) Good job, boys

Newsies – (beam proudly)

**On with the story! (bows)**

* * *

He walked down the dirty snow filled street, hands in his pockets with his back turned against the arctic winds. The sky above him was gray and overcast; snowflakes fell from clouds as it covered everything around him. With each passing minute the temperature dropped dangerously and he knew he had to find some place warm or risk dying a frostbitten death.

He turned a corner and hope was in sight. A small, secluded building lay ahead, its lights issuing from the inside burning bright like a beacon. He smiled and rushed toward it, eager for its assured warmth. Once he reached it he entered, shivered in the sudden change in temperature, but immediately began to feel better. The heater's warmth spread through his whole body, from head to toe.

"Hi!" said a bright voice from his right. His head turned to see a girl smiling at him. "Welcome to O'Connor's Books. Can I help you?" She stood behind an old wooden desk, a clunky metal cash register to her right, stopping her conversation with the girl beside her.

He shook his head. "Nah, I just came in to get out of the cold. Thanks though." He wrapped his shabby gray coat tighter around his frame. The girl nodded.

"Sure. If you need anything just holler." she said, giving him another wide smile.

"Blink!" A sudden voice came from behind him. He turned yet again to see a boy walking up to him, covered in a bulky black coat and moth eaten mittens. He grinned.

"Hey, Mush. Decided to high tail it here too, huh?" Blink said.

"Not here exactly, just anywhere to get away from _that_," Instinctively, the two boys looked toward the huge window beside them. The once peaceful snowflakes had turned into dime size snowballs and were falling at an alarming rate. The wind howled furiously, rattling the entrance door. "Looks like we're gonna be here for a while."

Blink sighed heavily. "Great." He looked around to find something, anything, to entertain him while the growing storm raged.

His good eye stopped on the girl behind the cash register. She was pretty short compared to her companion; she looked to be about 5'5. She had curly, copper red hair, almost like the color of a new penny, which was currently held up in a high ponytail. She glanced at him and Blink caught a green-brown color for her eyes, light brown freckles sprinkled on her ivory nose and cheeks. The girl looked back to her friend, bit her fair pink lip and giggled.

Taking his gaze away from her, Blink and Mush began to walk around the store, browsing each section carelessly. One title caught his eye and he picked it up to look more properly at the cover.

"Hey, Mush. Look at this." Blink said, tapping Mush on the shoulder. He turned and joined Blink to look at the book.

"_Savior_," Mush muttered. He wrinkled his nose. "Sounds like a girl book."

"Yeah, kinda." Blink agreed. Mush moved on but Blink continued to stare at the book. Its cover was a deep blue with _Savior_ etched in gold, fancy lettering at the top. The author's name was underneath it. He opened the cover to read the summary. Stumbling over a few big words he'd never seen before, the gist of the story was pretty clear.

Thrusting his hand into the depths of his pocket, he felt around for his day's earnings. He pulled out quarters, dimes and nickels and proceeded to count out ninety-nine cents because that was how much the book was worth. _Savior _in one hand and his money in the other, he marched up to the desk and set the book down. The girl who had spoken to him looked up from counting the money in the register. She grinned.

"Decided to get something after all?" she said. Blink nodded.

"Yeah I figured I may as well. I might be stuck in this joint for a while, so why not entertain myself?" Blink reasoned.

"You know you don't have to buy it. You can just read it if, like you said, you're going to be stuck in this 'joint'." she said, picking up the book and punching in the numbers on the cash register.

"Ah, touché, miss. But I'd rather have it to read to the little ones on a rainy day or somethin'." Blink confessed and the girl nodded.

"Okay, the total comes out to one-oh-five," she said, placing the book in a white paper bag. Blink froze and began to panic. The girl looked at him strangely. "Are you okay?" The other girl who she had been chatting with looked up from writing something.

"I thought it was only ninety-nine cents…" Blink trailed off, perfectly puzzled.

"It is," spoke the other girl. "But you have to consider tax."

"Oh," Blink said. "I didn't know."

"Do you still want it?" The second girl continued.

"Nah, I ain't go that much." Blink said. He was a little crestfallen because being one of the few boys at the lodging house that could read he had wanted to tell grand adventures to the little boys and fill their imaginations.

He glanced at the girl with the bright copper hair and she was gazing back at him with a small look of pity. Blink hated it when people looked at him that way, the "oh you poor thing, I feel so bad for you, I wish I could help you". Either that or the, "EW, what an urchin, he might have some incurable and cacheable disease, move away". Well Blink didn't need help nor had a death ridden illness so they could all just screw over.

"Here," the red headed girl said, holding out the bag. "Keep it."

Blink didn't take it. "Listen, miss, I ain't some kinda charity case. I don't need you doin' any favors for me."

"I know, but you seemed really attached to it so…keep it. Free of charge." she said forcefully. "This isn't a favor, I just want to."

Blink stared at her, the pity in her eyes gone and was now replaced with determination, a little slyness thrown in for good measure. He hesitantly took the bag from her hand, his fingertips brushing against hers ever so slightly. She tinged a light pink and turned away from him, walking to the back of the shop, her companion giving Blink a small grin and following.

Mush appeared at Blink's side an instant later. He had been observing the whole ordeal from behind the non-fiction section with amusement.

"What was _that_ about?" he asked.

"I have no idea." Blink answered truthfully.

"Hey, looks like the storm stopped! Let's get outta here." he suggested and started to walk toward the exit. Blink nodded, craned his neck to see if he could get a view of the girl one last time but sadly couldn't, then turned to head back out into the winter wonderland with his friend.

* * *

She sat on the decaying oak desk, running her small fingers through her copper colored hair, finally pulling it up into a high ponytail. At this time of the day the store would usually be crawling with customers. Because it was so cold out, she didn't blame them for not wanting to venture outside. "Ugh, it's so _boring_ today." the girl whined.

"I know, but if we close up now we won't get paid for the full hours. Besides, we don't _have _to tell your father that there weren't any customers today. What he doesn't know won't hurt him." said a second girl. She had thin, waist length blonde hair that was tied into a loose braid. Her elbows rested on the desk, chin leaning heavily in her hands.

"Cayden McDaniel, that's horrible!" Gasped the girl from atop the desk. "True, but still bad."

Cayden's blue eyes sparkled with mischief. "Not as horrible as anything else we've done. Skipping class, stealing money from my mother, sneaking out to go meet boys-"

"You're exaggerating! I've never done any of those things!" Cayden raised an eyebrow and her friend sighed. "We skipped class because I got sick, you had to take me home and you stayed at my house because we only had one hour left in the day. We didn't _steal_ from your mother; she knew we were taking it, how much and what it was for. And may I remind you that I _do not _meet strange boys in the middle of the night, nor will I ever. You know perfectly well that I'm too shy around boys to begin with."

"Penni, you have GOT to stop analyzing everything I say. You ruin the moment." Cayden said in a deadpan voice.

"I'm merely telling the truth to keep people like you from becoming a pathological liar." Penni responded airily. "Anyway, we better start on those records-"

"You know what you need?" Cayden interrupted. Penni hopped down from the desk and Cayden stood upright. Now it was Penni's turn to raise a brow.

"Do tell."

"A boyfriend," Penni snorted. "I'm serious! Then maybe you can lay off my back."

"Did you not hear what I just said? I'm too timid around them, even if I've known them all my life." Penni said, taking a vanilla colored folder, opening it and beginning to write on the piece of paper inside it.

"Unless-"

"They're family, yes." Penni finished, not looking up. Cayden paused.

"Well then you'll just have to…" To what? Cayden mulled it over then suddenly snapped her fingers. "You'll just have to _not _be yourself."

Penni glanced up. "What?"

"Okay, some boys like girls to be themselves, you know, let their true personality show. But with you, you've got to do the _opposite_," Cayden crossed her arms in front of her like an X, both index fingers aiming away from each other. "Does that make sense?"

"You're missing the most important ingredient. I don't _want _a boyfriend. I don't even have a crush on anyone." Penni closed the folder and shoved it in the bookshelf behind her, then resumed to doing the same thing with another one.

Cayden rolled her eyes. "And you say _I'm _a liar. I've seen the way you look at Logan." Cayden said. Penni paused in her writing and Cayden saw her cheeks tinge.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Penni defied, going back to her paper once again.

"Logan Alexander, _the _most popular male in school. You always stare at him! Example A," Cayden rushed around the desk and stopped in front of Penni, elbows on the table, chin in her hands again. "Yesterday, you were so focused on staring into his intelligent brown eyes as he talked and laughed with his friends that you took no notice of your elbow," Cayden started to move her arm slowly to the right. "sliding into a mushy stick of butter, which you never wiped off at the end of the day.

"Example B: Last week we were on our way to class when he walked by. We were avoiding the sidewalk because it was iced over and slippery. When Logan sauntered by, you completely stopped talking to me, watched him walk away and then proceeded to step on a piece of the sidewalk, thus ended up falling flat on your butt." By this time Penni had stopped writing, her head still down but her cheeks had been upped to a flaming red.

"Example C-"

"Okay, I get it! Yes, I might have a crush on Logan, so what?" Penni said heatedly, looking up at her best friend.

Cayden smirked. "So, you obviously want him to be your boyfriend."

Penni laughed. "Please! He's dating Olivia Tyler; I don't stand a chance with him with _her_ as his girlfriend." she said. Cayden strolled around the desk and faced Penni.

"You're right," Penni opened her mouth to protest. "which is why you've got to scope for someone new, but take on a new attitude. Stop being so bashful and clumsy. You're seventeen! Practically a woman! You should be elegant, graceful, optimistic, yet sly and hard to get. Like Isabella!"

"Isabella was born that way. Besides she knew what she was doing."

Cayden rolled her eyes. "I hardly doubt that _anyone _is born that way. She learned from her mother, remember? And you're going to learn from me." Cayden declared, throwing an arm over Penni's shoulders.

At that moment, the door opened and in stepped a boy with a raggedy black jacket and gray, hole-infested mittens. He shivered and leaned back against the door after he successfully closed it.

"Hi! Welcome to O'Connor's Books! Can I help you?" Penni said her automatic greeting for customers. The boy shook his head.

"No thanks, just came in to get out of the cold." he said hoarsely, then cleared his throat.

"Oh, okay, well if you need anything just le me know." Penni said in a falsely bright voice. The boy nodded and wandered away into the deeper part of the store. Cayden still had her arm around Penni's shoulders when the boy came in but now took it off and quickly faced her.

"What was that?"

"He's a customer!" Penni said in a hushed voice. "It's trained into my brain to be that nice and stupidly cheerful like I enjoy my job. You know that."

"That's true. Okay, now take a good look," Cayden and Penni leaned over the desk to stare at the boy. He ended up in the first row of fictional books, staring at them, feigning interest. They resumed their normal positions. "Cute?"

Penni wrinkled her nose. "Kind of. He's no Logan Alexander-"

"_Forget _about Logan Alexander for a minute and focus. Do you think he's cute and date worthy?" Cayden whispered. Penni hesitated, leaned over again to find the boy a bit further down the row, and came back up. She shook her head.

"Not really." she whispered timidly.

"Okay, that's all right, there's bound to be someone else." Cayden said, attempting to reassure herself more than Penni.

The girls resumed their activities of running the store. Penni continued writing in more vanilla folders and Cayden was currently unpacking a new shipment of books from a huge box that was planted behind the desk. Thirty minutes later, the mysterious boy still hadn't left and Penni noticed the wind starting to pick up and snow flurries hitting the window. She also spotted a large object moving slowly through the storm. She watched it stagger, pick its head up, and come romping into the store. Penni stopped what she was doing and nudged Cayden with her foot. She stood up.

"What?" she asked, a bit irritated. She was almost finished unpacking those damn books. Penni motioned to the, now identified, boy who had just walked in. He closed his eyes, eye actually because a big black patch was covering his left, and let the heat of the building engulf him. "Penni, _what_?"

"_He's_ cute." Penni whispered. Cayden followed Penni's eyes and grinned as they landed on him.

"I _knew_ you'd come around!" Cayden whispered excitedly.

"Hi!" Penni started cheerfully. She saw his eye open and head whip around to face her. "Welcome to O'Connor's Books. Can I help you?" This time she said it with more flair and because she really meant it. He gave her a short answer and she replied with another friendly, "Sure. If you need anything just holler." The boy nodded and Penni turned back to Cayden as the boy that had come in earlier walked up to the new guy.

"I've never seen him around here before. Who do you think he is?" Penni asked in a hushed voice.

"I think he's one of those newsies, you know the boys who sell the newspapers." Cayden responded, equally quiet.

"I wonder what happened to his eye," Penni said sadly, then suddenly gasped. "You don't think he…doesn't _have _one, do you?"

Cayden shrugged. "I'm not sure but it's probably a fake. The newsies will do _anything _to sell a paper."

"Well, yes, I understand that, but what if it's true? Not to have an _eye_. That must be terrible."

"Okay, getting off the subject of missing body parts, what do you think of his _other _eye?"

"I don't know, I didn't see it." Penni admitted. Cayden sighed.

"You've got to start paying more attention! It's green, by the way." Cayden said. Penni's ears perked up at this. She had a thing for blonde haired, green-eyed boys so was this just purely coincidental?

Penni felt a gaze upon her and she glanced to her right to find the boy staring at her. She bit her lip and giggled. "He's _really_ cute." she whispered.

"Good! Okay now remember if he does happen to buy anything or ask a question, be the _opposite_. Graceful, sly, hard to get." Cayden reminded forcefully but quietly. Penni nodded.

"Right, just like Isabella." Cayden nodded in response and they both went back to their duties once again. Penni was finally finished with the folders and resorted to opening the bulky cash register to count the money. Cayden started stacking some of the books from the box behind her, and some below. Penni was currently recounting the dollar bills again, giving them another good once over and because she had nothing else to do, when a shadow overtook her. She looked up to find the one-eyed mystery boy there and inwardly gasped. _Wow, he's even cuter up close_, she thought. _Okay, go for it. You can do it, Penni. _

She mustered up a cute grin. "Decided to get something after all?" She could feel Cayden's eyes on her and knew that she was silently cheering her on.

"Yeah I figured I may as well. I might be stuck in this joint for a while so why not entertain myself?" he said reasonably.

_Ha, we should trade jobs for a day. Then you'll know what it's _really _like to be stuck here._

"You know, you don't have to buy it. You can just read it if, like you said, you're going to be stuck in this 'joint'." Penni said. This was actually quite easy, once she set her mind to it. The fact that he was easy to talk to helped a lot, too. She picked up the book he had laid on the counter and had to restrain all of her being not to squeal with delight. He had just chosen her favorite book in the world and was on the verge of telling him so when she remembered her mission to be cool and composed. Instead, she jabbed in the numbers on the cash register.

The boy grinned. "Ah, touché, miss. But I'd rather have it to read to the little ones on a rainy day or somethin'."

'_Little ones'? Oh no, don't tell me he's has kids, _she thought frantically. "Okay, the total comes out to one-oh-five." Penni tried to ignore the fact that this sixteen, possibly seventeen-year-old guy might have kids of his own, maybe even married, as she slid the book into a white paper bag. She was convinced that she was cursed to always pick the wrong guy. He seemed to tense up when she told him the price and she wondered what could be wrong. "Are you okay?" Cayden paused in writing the receipt to look up. He seemed confused, he told Penni he thought the book was ninety-nine cents.

"It is," Cayden spoke up. "but you have to consider tax."

"Oh," he said. "I didn't know."

"Do you still want it?" Cayden asked. Penni thought she was being just a tad bit rude, but she knew Cayden had a point behind it.

"Nah, I ain't go that much." He looked so disappointed and Penni felt kind of bad for him. She wanted to do something, but not make it look like she was doing it out of charity. They locked eyes and without a moment's hesitation, without even considering the possibilities of what might happen, she thrust the bag toward him.

"Here," she said. "Keep it." He didn't move to take it.

"Listen, miss, I ain't some kinda charity case. I don't need you doin' any favors for me." Penni just wanted to scream at him to take it. She wasn't doing it to be nice and the fact that he thought of himself as a charity case never crossed her mind. It was because…Well, there actually _wasn't _a reason why she was doing this. Just because it was out of her character and for once she wanted to be different.

"I know, but you seemed really attached to it so…keep it. Free of charge." she said forcefully. "This isn't a favor, I just want to." He blinked and reached out to take the book bag from her, his fingertips just barely touching hers. She blushed, turned and walked swiftly to the back of the store, Cayden soon following after her.

"Oh my God, Penni, you were brilliant!" Cayden gushed as soon as they reached an area where they knew they would not be overheard. Penni was panting slightly, still a bit flushed.

"Do you think so?" she asked hopefully. Cayden nodded fervently.

"Definitely, it's _exactly_ what Isabella would have done."

"Why were you being so rude to him?"

Cayden shrugged. "It was just in case he decided to start flirting with me or something," Penni frowned. "It's a possibility! Besides, I figured that if I was a bit mean to him he'd automatically turn to you or something so in all actuality, I just did you a favor."

"Well, thank you. I don't know what happened. I mean, I just _looked _at him and the words came out! It's like I wasn't pretending! It was great!" Penni danced around the room. Cayden laughed.

"So do you still want to date Logan Alexander?"

"Logan who?"

Cayden smiled radiantly. "Mission accomplished."

* * *

Much later that night, the storm had indeed died down considerably and it was seven exactly, which meant it was time to go home. Just as she was gathering up her belongings, Penni remembered to donate her dollar-oh-five to the cash register, just in case her father decided to check the next morning.

"You go on, Penni. I'll lock up." Cayden insisted.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive, it's my turn anyway."

Penni laughed. "Okay then I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye!" Cayden said brightly and the girls waved goodbye to each other.

Penni stepped out into the bitter winds of Manhattan, the ground covered in thick white snow. The gas lamps had just been ignited and the light glittered wonderfully on the powder, the streets as well as they were slick with ice. There were hardly any people out and about, not a single carriage or wagon could be seen. It was actually kind of peaceful, Penni supposed that this is what it must sound like in the middle of the night when the city shut down for a much-needed sleep.

She struggled on through the snow when a man passed her, dressed heavily in a cloak. She didn't think anything of it, just continued on her way home. Until, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man turn around to pursue her.

_Okay, that was odd…_, she thought. The man continued to follow her, the _crunch-crunch_ on the snow becoming faster. By this time, Penni started to panic and before she had time to react, to think properly, to cry for help, something was poking her hard in the back and it made her stop in her tracks.

"Empty your pockets." His voice was husky and low when his demand snaked its way into her ear. Penni hesitated, scared out of her wits. The object at her back pressed harder. "Do it or I'll shoot." With shaking hands she reached into her pockets and brought out two more dollars and random change. The man grabbed roughly for it and stuffed them into his own pockets.

"Hey!" A voice shouted. The man turned around and Penni risked twisting her head to peek behind the man. The person who had shouted was now coming into view and she recognized him as the same boy from the bookstore.

_Oh no, I have to act cool. Even though a gun is being pointed into my back, I still have to try don't I?_, she thought.

"Pardon me my good uh…," he faltered, seeing the man in full view now. "sir. I'll have to ask you to release that young-"

"Keep moving junior." Penni said, not believing what was coming out of her mouth.

"…Lady. But, aren't you a damsel in distress?"

"I'm a damsel, I'm in distress, and I can handle this. Have a nice day." Penni said. She wanted him to leave so he wouldn't get hurt. It was her fault for taking the stupid main roadway and not the alley, she knew better. The tip of the gun left her back, she heard it cock, and she was sure that the man was aiming it at the boy. Penni could have sworn that she heard the one-eyed boy say, "Screw it" before the robber's weight was released and Penni was knocked to the ground. She hastily turned to find the boy and the robber in an all out fist fight, the gun knocked from his hands and buried somewhere under the snow.

Soon there were several yells and Penni didn't notice individual bodies that went with the shouts until they stepped in front of her to break up the fight. Three guys were holding back the one-eyed boy while they watched the robber run off.

"Blink, what the hell was that!" One of them shouted at the boy.

"That guy was a robber or somethin'. He had a gun and was pointin' it at her so I did the only thing I could think of!" The boy pointed to Penni, who was still on the ground looking at the four of them dumbstruck. He walked over to her and offered her a hand. She gratefully took it, he pulled her up, and their eyes locked once again. Penni saw the recognition of her in his eye. "You again."

"Yes," She cleared her throat. "Me. Again."

"You know each other?" Asked the one who had shouted.

"Sort of." Penni admitted.

"What did you think you were doin', sayin' you could handle that?" The green-eyed boy demanded, ignoring his companion's question. Penni shrugged.

"I was scared! Besides, it was a message for you to leave. It was my fault for choosing to go home this way in the first place."

"Yeah, but that don't mean you gotta get _shot _for it!" he shouted.

"Look, I don't know who you are, thank you for saving my life but I really did have it under control!" Penni said, becoming frustrated.

"If you call under control havin' a gun bein' held to your back, then we got two very screwed up definitions."

"Okay! That's enough!" One of the other boys shouted. "Let's all go inside, we're gonna freeze to death." The five of them trudged up the stairs and into a building called the Newsboys Lodging House. Penni passed by this building everyday, but she never knew it was a lodging house. She had never paid attention to the sign.

It was a cozy room, which looked to be a lobby. An old wooden desk was set up in the middle of the room and several cubbyholes were behind the desk, stuffed with letters and jackets and mittens and hats. A long, creaky gray staircase loomed into a second story to the left of everyone and against the two bay windows was a very moth eaten, cushion missing, red plaid ripped up couch. A frayed gray rug lay in front of the couch while a thin Christmas tree stood majestically between the couch and a ticking grandfather clock. Finally, to pull it all together to complete the warmth, a fireplace was built into the wall directly to the left of the grandfather clock and an inviting fire was blazing cheerily, the orange and yellow flames dancing and hypnotic.

"What's all this noise?" Asked a new, older sounding voice. An elderly man came shuffling out of a back room and came to a halt behind the desk.

"Nothin', Kloppman. We got it under control." said a boy with wavy brown hair. The old man shrugged and walked away into the back room again. The boy turned to Penni and he stared at her with curious brown eyes. "Are you okay?"

Penni nodded. "I'm fine. Thank you."

He smiled. "Good. The name's Jack Kelly and this here is Racetrack Higgins," He pointed to a short boy about her height with chestnut hair, bright blue eyes and a smooth, olive complexion. Racetrack gave Penni a curt nod. "That's Bumlets," Jack motioned to a guy with wavy black hair, intriguing brown eyes and nutmeg skin. Bumlets smiled kindly at Penni. "And that's Kid Blink."

"Just Blink." he corrected. Penni nodded.

"I'm Penni O'Connor. I'm really grateful you all saved my life, but I have to get going," Penni said. She was so embarrassed that she didn't feel like meeting anyone in the eye. But one look outside, to see that it was once again snowing, she decided against it. "Actually, I think I'll stay here until it stops snowing. At least enough so I can go home."

Jack nodded. "Good idea. You can stay down here or come with us to meet the other guys-"

"No, no it's okay. I'll stay here." Penni said nervously. She plopped herself in front of the fire, brought her legs up to her chest and tried to get warm. _God, I am so stupid! _Why _did I say those things to Blink? I'm sure I've made a bad impression on him now_, she thought miserably. She put her chin on top of her arms and sighed, staring longingly into the fire.

The next moment, a body sat down beside her and crossed their legs. Penni didn't bother to look over, afraid it was going to be Blink.

"You know, what you did was really stupid." Sure enough, it _was_ Blink. Great, more criticism.

"I know, stop reminding me," Penni mumbled. "Where did the others go?"

"Upstairs. They wanted to turn in early tonight." he said. She felt a stare upon her and she risked turning her head to find him looking at her. The gentle glow of the firelight cast an orange shadow upon the side of his face, his good eye reflected the flames, dancing merrily, the embers shooting up, glowing and instantly disappearing like lightening bugs.

At that moment, Penni had never wanted a boy as much as she wanted Blink. True this was their first actual meeting as boy and girl, person and person, and not customer and store worker. And it was also true that she had acted like a fool a while ago, but things could change in the next ten minutes. Or even five. The point was, is that she knew she wanted to see him again. And if she left the lodging house tonight with nothing more than the current conversation, she could always come back the next day. Or she could find his selling spot, but that might seem a little desperate.

"I meant what I said earlier. If it hadn't been for you I wouldn't be here right now. So, thank you." Penni said softly, giving Blink a small smile. He grinned.

"You're welcome. But I gotta say, what you said when you were probably moments away from death…It reminded me of somethin' from the book you gave me today." Blink said, smirking. Penni laughed and nodded.

"Yes, _Savoir_."

"Yeah! You read it too?"

"Of course, it's my all time favorite. Isabella-"

"Said it," Blink finished. "Yeah. But you said it dead on. How many times have you read it?"

Penni paused, trying to think. How many times _has _she read it? She never bothered to keep count, but she knew it was too many times. "You know, honestly, I don't know. I've had it since I was thirteen. But I know one thing, I've read it far more times than you." she joked and they shared a laugh.

"Who's your favorite character?" Blink asked, turning his body around to face her. Penni let down her legs and imitated him.

"Definitely Isabella, but Jacob is a close second."

Blink nodded. "It's the opposite with me."

"Ah, so that'swhy _you _quoted from the book, too when you oh-so-bravely stepped in to rescue me." Penni laughed when Blink flushed red.

"Yeah, I just thought it was so cool how he saved her. I guess I wanted to be like him, rescuin' damsels." he admitted. Penni grinned.

"So was I your first damsel in distress, then?" she asked dramatically, putting on an English accent when she said 'damsel in distress'.

"You were." Blink nodded.

"Aren't I just lucky?" Blink laughed and Penni giggled. Then she remembered something that had been bothering her all day. "Oh, not to change the subject, this is just a random question, but earlier at the bookstore when you said you wanted the book to read to the 'little ones on a rainy day'…um…did you mean _your_ little ones?"

Blink frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Um…Well, uh…" Penni stuttered. Blink's eye went wide and he suddenly burst out laughing.

"You think I got _kids_?"

"Well, you never explained what the little ones were so I only assumed-"

"Nah, they ain't mine. They're the younger newsies, about seven to ten years old," he interrupted. "I ain't even got a girl much less kids of my own." No girlfriend? This conversation just got a whole lot better.

"Oh," Penni said, trying to play it cool. "Right. Wow that was embarrassing." she laughed nervously.

"It's okay. But uh, just as _my _random question, do you have…someone?" he asked, gazing directly into her eyes. Penni felt her stomach flip. She was definitely falling for him.

"No I don't actually. But I'm looking, if it's any consolation," Blink nodded and scratched the back of his head, making his eye patch move a little bit. "I'm sorry, I've just been dying to know since you walked in today. If you feel like I'm prying then go ahead and stop me."

"Okay, but first you gotta ask me the question in order for me to tell you if you're prying' or not." he said slyly.

"Is your eye patch real or fake?" Penni blurted. Blink smiled.

"Nah, it's a fake," he reached up behind his head to untie the string that connected to the patch. He pulled it off to reveal another green eye, just as deep and thrilling as the first one. Penni restrained herself from wrinkling her nose. She preferred the patch. "I know what you're thinkin' and I gotta make a livin' for myself somehow. Pity from the buyers is the only way for me to sell my papes."

"Oh, I completely understand. I've pretty much read all the books in the store and so sometimes if a customer asks me about a certain one, what it's like or if it's good and if I _don't _like it, I'll lie and say it's a great book just to make a little money. So, we're really not that different."

Blink laughed. "Ha! And I thought _I _was bad." Penni grinned.

They continued to talk into the night, finally continuing their discussion about _Savior_ and other books that they, mostly Penni, have read. It wasn't until nine-thirty when the snow completely stopped falling and was left once again with the perfect, shining powder. The clock bonged and it stirred Penni out of her conversation.

"Oh no, I've really overstayed my welcome," she said, standing up, walking to the front door. Blink stood up to follow her. "I have to get home. I'm surprised my parents haven't sent out a search party by now."

Blink smiled. "Okay, well it was nice to meet you, Penni."

She nodded. "Same here." She turned to walk out the door, a little disappointed that nothing romantic happened but why would it? Blink put out a hand on her arm to stop her from leaving. She turned to face him.

"Hey listen, I don't have to work the evening' shift tomorrow and I was wonderin'," He leaned against the doorframe, put his hands in his pockets and averted his eye. He had put the patch back on a little while after his confession of it being a fake. Penni's stomach leaped and she prayed with all her might that he was going to ask her out. "Um…Do you wanna maybe go see a show? I know where the best seats are and we can sit in the front or in a balcony. Or somethin'."

She couldn't believe it. On the first night of their official meeting, Penni was being asked to attend a show with a boy. A boy that she _liked_.

She couldn't control the beam that was spreading across her face. "I'd like that."

Blink smiled. "Great! I'll pick you up at the bookstore at eight. Is that okay?"

"Yes, of course!"

"Okay, see you tomorrow."

"Goodbye." And with that, Penni walked out, a goofy broad smile still plastered to her face. She didn't know it, but Blink watched her walk all the way down the street until she turned the corner.

Penni skipped the rest of the way home, romping and jumping in the snow, butterflies overcoming her stomach. She laughed as she kept reminding herself that she had a date. Her first date. She didn't know if it would progress into something more later on, but she hoped so.

She did know one thing. She was never going to take advice from Cayden again.

**

* * *

****AN- Bad ending! Ah, I know! Kinda left it on a weird note, but I just wanted to get this up. Happy belated birthday, Penni! I hope you liked it!**

Blink – Happy birthday, Penni!

Newsies – (blows the party horns and turns up the music)

Thanks in advance for the reviews! See you all later! (dances in the forming conga line with confetti in her hair)

**Dreamless-Mermaid**


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